State employees take it off -- 13 times a year
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| At least one public servant -- President-elect Barack Obama -- recently vacationed in this Hawaii home. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) |
Out of numbers as big as California's 42-billion-dollar budget hole, it's always the comparatively small numbers that irk and annoy us voters and taxpayers -- maybe because those are the only ones we can wrap our heads around.
That's how I felt about my colleague George Skelton's revelations about the cornucopia of paid holidays enjoyed by state employees.
State employees get more than twice as many paid holidays as most of us do, me included -- 13. They get both national and state holidays: New Year's Day, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, both Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, Cesar Chavez Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
State employees' complaints about forced unpaid furlough days as part of broad budget-cutting would resonate a lot more deeply and sympathetically were they not already getting so many paid holidays.
In the meantime, the only thing I get out of all these state holidays is light traffic on the freeways, on the days when I'm working -- and they're not.
Americans are alone among all developed nation in even considering jobs with no health care, vacation and holidays.
Don't envy others, legislate the same for everyone.
It does wonders for society to be able to spend time with your family.
Posted by: Linda Winsh-Bolard | January 17, 2009 at 09:18 AM
Think this is ridiculous? Don't like it? Seem unfair. Great, now do something about it. Vote Republican.
Posted by: Rationale Man | January 16, 2009 at 09:48 PM
My question is, do you believe they get too much time off ... or are you getting too little? The U.S. as a whole is pretty stingy with holidays compared to other industrialized nations.
Posted by: H.W. | January 16, 2009 at 10:34 AM
You also get out of it is that your taxes would not be increased. Except it does not matter to you because you think your taxes are not high enough to pay state workers extra holydays and pensions. But the rest of us think that we pay highest taxes in the nation.
Posted by: Allen | January 16, 2009 at 08:44 AM
Oh, cry me a river. One can always find someone who gets more time off, or gets paid off, or something else. I don't know what Patt Morrison does for a living, what qualifications were required for them to get their job, how hard they work or how much they get paid, or how much informal time they get off (I know a lot of people in the private sector who routinely take Fridays off, but they may deserve it-- hard to generalize).
Posted by: Steve | January 16, 2009 at 07:28 AM